Albany schools may face cuts this school year
The Albany board of education plans to discuss how it might cut school spending in the current academic year when it meets Tuesday night.
Among agenda items listed for the Board of Education’s January 20th meeting is “approve 2008-09 mid-year cuts.” This agenda item is listed for “review and discussion,” signaling that no votes or final decisions will be made.
School board member Patricia Low said the board likely will aim to slice spending by 15 percent.
Albany’s situation – whatever its specifics will be revealed to be – is a result of California’s huge budget deficit and proposals from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature to cut billions from education as one means to shore it up.
California faces a $41 billion deficit over the next 18 months. The governor and legislators have yet to agree on how to close that gap, but all proposals include cutting education.
While California’s budget situation is very dire, this state already spends less on educating its students than almost any other state. California ranks 47th in spending per pupil – meaning all but three states spend more per student than California does. Some New England states spend twice what California does per student.
Education funding in California is unique in other ways, too, in that school districts receive the majority of their funding from the state rather than from local authorities. In most states, public school education is paid for by local property taxes submitted to cities or school districts which in turn fund their schools. But in California, property taxes are funneled through the state and distributed through a complex formula.
What’s in store for Albany schools is still not known. Albany Superintendent of Schools Marla Stephenson said she would shed some light on the situation after she presents suggestions to the school board.
The board of education meets at the Albany Community Center at 1249 Marin Avenue. The open public session begins at 7:30 p.m. and again the meeting is Tuesday, January 20. The public is invited to comment early in the meeting.
The meeting will be videocast on KALB Channel 33 and you can also click here to watch it online. as a webcast .
By Barbara Grady-Ayer
I was surprised to read that the district is planning to make significant cuts and that Marla Stephenson apparently did not know where the money was going to come from.
http://albanytoday.org/
I was very surprised by the article because last Thursday, if I heard her correctly, Marla apparently knew where to find hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for the new cafeteria. Due to cost overruns, the pool bond money cannot pay for it.
For discussion purposes, here is my suggested budget
1. New outdoor pool structure $2,330,000
2. New PERMANENT CLASSROOMS, $1,800,000
3. Cafeteria, $500,000
4. Pool office space in TEMPORARY STRUCTURE, $50,000
5. Demolition $320,000
6. Soft costs, $1,000,000
TOTAL = $6,000,000
Reserves $4,000,000
The pool building structure would include a cover for inclement weather. Since El Cerrito does not have a cover, this could bring in extra revenue. The pool might be 10 lanes so that lap swimmers could use two lanes while the swim team or water polo team is using the pool.
There could also be a small warm pool/therapy pool that would also have various kinds of sprays that would be attractive to small children. This would be similar to what El Cerrito has and would Berkeley is considering.